Chapter 393: Welcome To The Centaur Village!
But Sigrid wasn’t done. She blushed slightly and her voice became quieter, more hesitant.
"Not to mention." She added. "There are all those dreams as well. The things you did to me and to everyone else on the demi-human continent in the realm of sleep."
"THAT WAS THE GODDESS!" Luca fired back frantically, shielding his face. "She’s the one who messed up and broadcasted lewd dreams! I’m the victim here!"
"Even so!" Sigrid declared, slamming her metaphorical gavel down. "It doesn’t take away from the fact that you did all those d-dirty things."
She paused, then delivered another blow with a scandalized gaze.
"Not only that, but you make rather lewd comments from time to time—comments I would never expect from a dignified Hero. Like suggesting that I should remove my top so you could examine my spine."
Luca’s face flushed with embarrassment. "That was—I was joking—"
But Sigrid wasn’t finished. Her blush deepened as she pressed on.
"Moreover." She continued. "The two times I contacted the elf village to invite you—first for the duel, and second for today—I heard certain...noises. Constantly. In the background."
Luca’s expression grew wary.
"What...what sort of noises?"
He asked the question slowly, carefully, even though he already had a sinking feeling that he knew exactly what she was going to say.
Sigrid looked profoundly embarrassed. She even slowed her pace slightly, as if the act of walking and talking about this at the same time was too much for her to handle.
"Very...erotic noises." She finally managed to stammer out.
Luca immediately raised a hand to rub his forehead, his expression a mixture of embarrassment and frustration.
"While speaking with Leona and Nyx about inviting you over." Sigrid continued, her fingers fidgeting nervously. "I could hear constant moaning and whimpering in the background."
She shot him an indignant look.
"At first, I was offended. Genuinely offended! I thought, ’Is it really necessary to do such dirty things while talking to me? While I’m trying to discuss important matters?’
"But then." She continued, her voice becoming strained. "Leona and Nyx informed me that it wasn’t them. It wasn’t them you were playing around with."
"It was...it was members of the entire village."
She finally met his eyes again, and her gaze was one of profound, almost awed disbelief.
"They explained how this is just how the village constantly is now. The background noise has changed from birds singing and insects chirping in the trees to...to moans. Constantly. All the time."
"It’s the new normal."
Her voice took on a slightly accusatory edge.
"Apparently, SOMEONE just can’t help himself and
constantly has to play around with his wives at all hours of the day and night. And because of that, the entire elf village has become a love den where you can hear those...those noises constantly."
"From dawn until dusk, and likely through the night as well."
Luca was so embarrassed now that he could barely look at her.
"Stop it." He mumbled. "Please stop. I get the point."
But Sigrid, it seemed, was not done. She leaned forward slightly, as if about to share a particularly juicy piece of gossip.
"It became so bad, in fact, that the elders in the village had to tell lies to the children. They convinced them that all those noises were coming from a new species of animal that had appeared in the forest—strange birds making strange sounds."
"The gullible children believed them completely, never knowing what was truly happening just a few trees away."
She looked at him with a small, almost smug smile.
"How could I possibly not call you lustful, Sir Luca?"
Luca threw his hands up in exasperation.
"I can’t help it, alright!? When you have over fifty wives, one man has to work constantly to satisfy every single one of them!"
He gathered his courage and met her gaze with as much dignity as he could muster.
"In fact, I’m properly performing my duties as a husband—ensuring that the land is properly tilled and sowed! Not a single one of them has any frustration or dissatisfaction."
"So, don’t you dare accuse me of being merely lustful!"
Sigrid rolled her eyes. "Then what about yesterday, Sir Luca? What about your reaction while you were sitting on my back?"
Luca’s mind immediately flashed to the memory of his erection pressing against her spine. His face went pale.
"That...that was...that was—"
"I am not your wife." Sigrid pointed out. "And yet you still reacted in that manner."
"I...that was...it was..."
He stammered. He fumbled. He failed.
"Exactly." Sigrid said with the satisfaction of someone who had won a decisive victory. "When it comes to the other sins, you are set apart from normal humans, Sir Luca."
"But when it comes to lust..." She raised her voice for emphasis. "...it more than compensates for everything else. Don’t even try to deny it. It’s useless!"
She harrumphed, crossing her arms with the satisfied air of someone who had won an argument decisively and knew it.
Luca deflated, defeated.
But then Sigrid glanced back at him, her expression shifting to something more hesitant, almost nervous.
"About what happened yesterday...are you feeling the same way right now?"
She asked in a slightly frightened tone, as though terrified of the answer.
Luca quickly shook his head.
"Of course not! That was an accident yesterday! I simply couldn’t control myself in that moment. It won’t happen again."
Sigrid let out a sigh of relief, her tense shoulders relaxing slightly.
"Good. That’s...that’s good to know."
"But of course." Luca added, a mischievous smirk spreading across his face. "I’ve positioned myself in such a way that even if I did have a reaction, you wouldn’t be able to notice it at all."
The relief on Sigrid’s face vanished instantly, replaced by a fresh wave of flustered embarrassment.
"SIR LUCA! H-HOW COULD YOU?"
Luca simply laughed out loud, the sound echoing across the highlands. He couldn’t help it.
The way she reacted—the mixture of indignation and embarrassment, the way her ears flattened against her head, the way her tail swished with agitation was simply too amusing.
She was like a stern schoolteacher who had just been caught off guard by a student’s inappropriate joke.
But even as he laughed, even as Sigrid continued to fume and mutter under her breath about "shameless heroes" and "no sense of dignity whatsoever" Luca felt a certain warmth settling in his chest.
They had made progress. Real, genuine progress.
Sigrid obviously disdained certain aspects of his behavior. She found his lustfulness excessive and wasn’t shy about saying so.
But she also saw him as a decent person. She was willing to talk with him openly, to tease him, to share her genuine thoughts without hiding behind formal politeness.
That was far more than he had expected after yesterday’s disaster.
Sigrid, for her part, also felt that she had gained a much better understanding of Luca.
He wasn’t the perfect, flawless Hero that the legends made him out to be. He had his flaws—obvious, sometimes embarrassing flaws.
But those flaws made him more human, more approachable, more real. He was someone she could talk to, someone she could argue with, someone she could even scold when necessary.
She confirmed in her mind what she had suspected earlier: if any human was going to ride upon her back, it would be him. And no one else.
Their bond, whatever it was, had grown closer.
Then Luca spoke again, his voice thoughtful.
"For a centaur as stubborn as you, you have a remarkably good understanding of things."
Sigrid glanced back at him. "Oh?"
"I’m not just talking about now." He elaborated. "Even yesterday, you seemed to have an overall understanding of the situation. Even though I might have appeared to be the villain, you realized that things weren’t entirely my fault."
"That’s rather surprising for someone who could have easily blamed me for everything."
Sigrid’s ears twitched softly. A warm, nostalgic smile touched her lips, her gaze softening as she looked toward the horizon.
"My mother taught me." Sigrid murmured gently. "Before judging anyone, she always told me I must first take the time to truly understand them."
She let out a soft, fond breath and went on to say,
"When I was young, I constantly begged her for war stories. And my mother would always remind me that most wars in history did not begin out of pure hatred, but out of foolish, tragic misunderstandings between races who refused to speak."
"She told me that if people simply sat down and spoke face-to-face with an open heart, ninety percent of the world’s bloodiest conflicts would fade away before a single sword was drawn."
Sigrid lifted her head proudly.
"So she instructed me never to judge a person by their appearance, their race, or rumors. I must observe them, listen to them, and understand their heart. That is the only way to be a true knight."
Luca looked at her profile, his dark eyes filled with genuine warmth.
"Your mother sounds like an incredibly wise, brilliant woman."
Sigrid’s chest swelled with pride. "Of course! That’s why my sister Mavis gets her intelligence from my mother. It runs in the family!"
She spoke in a dignified manner, clearly feeling both pride for her sister and her mother in equal measure.
But the moment Mavis’s name left her lips, Luca seized the opportunity.
"Speaking of your sister." He said carefully. "Can we talk about what happened yesterday?"
Sigrid stiffened instantly. The warmth that had suffused her features moments before vanished, replaced by a guarded, closed-off expression.
"Somehow." Luca continued, pressing on despite her obvious discomfort. "You were able to understand me thoroughly despite everything that had happened. You looked past the surface, considered the context, and came to a reasonable conclusion."
"But why is it that when it comes to your own sister, you are so—
"IT’S HERE!"
Sigrid’s voice rang out with forced brightness, cutting him off mid-sentence.
"It’s here, Sir Luca! We’ve finally arrived at the centaur village!"
She surged forward, increasing her pace dramatically, and Luca understood the message clearly:
She did not want to discuss this. Not now. Perhaps not ever.
So Luca, respecting her boundaries, did not push her. He let the question go, for now, and instead turned his attention forward to see what lay ahead.
And what he saw took his breath away.
The centaur village spread out before him like something out of a dream.
Nestled in a wide, verdant valley between two gently sloping hills, the settlement was a masterpiece of organic architecture.
The buildings seemed to grow out of the earth itself, constructed from wood and shaped stone and materials that Luca couldn’t immediately identify.
Most of the structures were tall and sprawling, designed to accommodate the unique anatomy of their inhabitants.
Banners in vibrant colors fluttered from wooden posts scattered throughout the village. The Ivoryhorn flag, Luca assumed, though he couldn’t make out the specific design from this distance.
Paths of carefully laid stone wound through the settlement, connecting the various buildings in a network that seemed both practical and aesthetically pleasing.
Gardens dotted the open spaces—not the manicured, controlled gardens of human nobles.
But wild and beautiful arrangements of native flowers and herbs that looked as if they had simply chosen to grow there of their own accord.
And moving through the village—going about their daily business, laughing and talking and living their lives were centaurs.
Dozens of them. Perhaps around a hundred. Their coats came in a variety of colors—white, black, brown, chestnut, dappled gray.
And their movements were graceful and fluid, their voices carrying on the wind in a pleasant murmur of conversation and song.
At the center of it all, rising above the other structures like a guardian watching over its charges, was a magnificent castle.
It was the largest building in the village by a significant margin, its architecture more elaborate and fancy than the simpler structures surrounding it.
Luca could see intricate carvings adorning its walls—scenes of battles and ceremonies and legendary figures that he couldn’t quite make out from this distance.
The roof was thatched with a golden-colored material that caught the sunlight and seemed to glow with an inner radiance.
"It’s beautiful." Luca breathed, and he meant it sincerely. "Absolutely beautiful."
Sigrid, despite her earlier tension, allowed herself a small smile of pride.
"Welcome, Sir Luca..."
She said, her voice carrying a note of quiet satisfaction.
"...to the home of the centaurs!"